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Several States in U.S. Southeast at High Risk for Extreme Weather including Strong Tornados; Officials in Alabama Advise Residents to Keep Multiple Sources for Extreme Weather Warnings Available; Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) Interviewed on His Hosting Contentious Town Halls Where Participants Asking about Reductions in Federal Government Workforce; President Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Seven Federal Agencies and Entities for Cuts; Staff at IRS Reports Abusive Behavior from Department of Government Efficiency Employees; Economics Professor Examined Possible Effects of Trump Administration's Proposed Tariffs on U.S. Economy; U.S. Carrying Out Military Action against Houthi Targets in Yemen; Cuba Suffering Power Outage Throughout Island. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 15, 2025 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper" tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific right here on CNN.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we're tracking this breaking news at this hour. Several states at high risk for tornadoes as a severe storm system moves east across the country. Officials say 3 million people in Alabama are now under a tornado watch following deadly storms that struck overnight in the south and Midwest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's here. It's here. Look at all that debris. Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in a tornado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in a tornado.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Pretty frightening moments there. Those storms causing widespread chaos across Missouri, killing at least 11 people. Another three people were killed in Arkansas as the severe weather flattened homes there. A far different but equally dangerous situation in Texas and Oklahoma, where the nearly the extreme opposite. You've got wildfires there burning on Friday, fueling in large part because of these high winds from the same kind of storm system. Oklahoma issuing a state of emergency in 12 counties after crews responded to more than 130 fires. CNN's Allison Chinchar is with us right here in the weather center,

and Rafael Romo is also tracking developments. Let's get started with you, Allison, because we've got a very dangerous situation right now.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. In just the last few minutes, we got what's called a tornado emergency. So it is still a tornado warning, but this is the highest level they can possibly issue. And they do that so people understand this is on the ground. This is tracking. This is a very large and dangerous tornado. In fact, they are assuming that the wind speeds of this one are likely around 175 miles per hour -- 166 to 200 is an EF-4. So that's likely what this one is in the range of.

So you can see these pink and purple boxes. Those are all the tornado warnings. But this white one right here, this is the one kind of sliding up southern Mississippi, southwest Mississippi and making it's way to the north and east, just to the west of Hattiesburg. This is the particular cell that we are talking about. And you can see it's one of many throughout this entire line right through here. So any one of these tornado warnings you need to take very seriously, get down to the lowest level of your home.

But this white one in particular, where we have the tornado emergency, please, please, please, even if you are the next county north or two counties north, go ahead and get into that safe place just ahead of time so that you are in place before this storm cell makes it all the way to you.

This is all part of the broader scale here where we have tornado watches in effect across portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the brand new one that just popped in into portions of Tennessee. The ones particularly in Mississippi and Alabama are noted as PDS tornado watches. That stands for "particularly dangerous situation." It's because they expect some of those warnings that we just talked about where you can have those tremendously large tornadoes on the ground kind of sliding eastward. Many of these are valid for several more hours. We're talking at least four to six hours from now as this whole line continues to slide eastward.

Look at the tremendous amount of lightning associated with this particular storm. This whole area, whether you see the yellow, the orange, the red, the pink, doesn't matter. All of these areas have the potential for the severe weather as we go through the next several hours, really the next 12 hours in many of these areas. You're talking about a tornado outbreak that is expected, including the violent long track tornadoes like the tornado emergency that is in effect now. But those could continue as we go through the next several hours.

Here's a look at the timeline. Again as we go through the afternoon, they're going to slide into portions of Alabama, into portions of middle Tennessee. Then it slides over into Georgia, east Tennessee as we go through the overnight hours. So please make sure you have a way to get those emergency alerts on your phone to wake you up so that you do not sleep through this.

By tomorrow morning, Sunday morning, you're looking at Charlotte, areas of Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia. Those are going to be the focal points there before it finally slides out over the open Atlantic finally, once we get towards very, very later into the day on Monday.

This looks very similar to the other map that we just showed you, but this is specifically for tornadoes. This hatched area, that's what we call it where you see the striped lines, these are the areas where you could likely see tornadoes that are EF-2 or larger. But in several cases threes, fours, and yes, even the possibility for a five could come about in that hatched area as we go through the next several hours.

In addition to all of those, if that wasn't enough, you also have the potential for flooding. These are flash flood warnings that are taking place north and west of Nashville, Tennessee, because the water just keeps coming. These storms are training over the same spots over and over again.

[14:05:00]

This red area in particular here that includes Memphis and Nashville, they have a moderate risk for flash flooding to go through the rest of the day and overnight tonight. You're talking two. four, even as much as six inches of rain in addition to all the other threats that we have.

WHITFIELD: That's incredible. So this is a particularly dangerous situation you're calling it in southern Mississippi right now, making its way east. Our Rafael Romo is actually in Birmingham, Alabama. Let's check in with him. What are you experiencing right there ahead of this system?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: The winds have picked a little bit in the last hour or so, Fred. And let me tell you, the city of Birmingham has already deployed what they call strike teams. These are teams of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and ambulances that are positioned at strategic locations so they can respond quickly if needed.

Officials have told me the level of concern here is great. So much so, the Storm Prediction Center has issued a rare five out of five risk of severe thunderstorms for parts of Alabama and Mississippi for today for a likely tornado outbreak. Officials are telling people they need to be prepared for the possibility of tornadoes that may be strong and long tracked, damaging winds of up to 70 miles an hour and large hail of up to two inches in diameter.

Earlier, I had an opportunity to talk to Jim Coker, the director of the Emergency management Agency here in Jefferson County. He wanted to remind people, there's no time to waste, and you need to be prepared now. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM COKER, DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA: Absolutely be prepared. Have multiple ways to get your warnings. Don't rely on any one way. Never rely just on outdoor warning sirens. Have multiple warnings in your warning toolbox. Make your plans now. Tell your friends and your neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Fredricka, Coker also wanted to remind people that it's very important to find a place underground, preferably a basement, for protection against tornadoes. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency yesterday for all of Alabama's 67 counties, asking people to stay weather aware and safe. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp did the same today in his state, saying that in Georgia, this storm will hit at the worst possible time as people are heading to or already in bed. Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, great warnings and advice on that. Rafael Romo and Allison Chinchar, thanks to both of you, appreciate it.

All right, just moments ago, President Trump signed the new stopgap funding bill to keep the U.S. government open for the next six months. The U.S. Senate passed the spending bill in a 54 to 46 vote on Friday. The government will now remain open through the end of September. Ten Democrats voted with the Republicans to advance the bill and avoid a partial shutdown. The bill highlighted a deep divide in the Democratic Party after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would back it. House Democrats voted almost unanimously against the bill.

We're also seeing signs of political division at town halls around the country. Anger and frustration continue to boil over in Republican town halls. In Asheville, North Carolina, that's the scene right there. An overflow of people who were kept out of a meeting with Congressman Chuck Edwards starting to bang the doors there, and things got pretty heated inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're lying! I'm a veteran. You don't give a -- about me!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are people losing their jobs at record numbers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that the way the United States should act to our closest neighbors?

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you support Trump in these things? This is a yes or no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And I'm joined now by North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, a lawmaker who held that contentious town hall. You were at the center of it all earlier in the week. Congressman, great to see you. REP. CHUCK EDWARDS, (R-NC): Thanks for your interest. It's happy -- I

am happy to be here with you this afternoon.

WHITFIELD: So we are looking at that video, you know, and it was very heated. But how would you describe the atmosphere at your town hall?

EDWARDS: It was loaded with folks that were interested in what's going on in this country, that were anxious to share their opinions. I enjoyed the lively conversation.

WHITFIELD: You did? You enjoyed it? OK. What did you enjoy about what transpired there?

EDWARDS: Well, there were so many people that took time to be there that took time to put questions in the box that they wanted answered. I believe it's part of the democratic process, even though it might be uncomfortable from time to time. I think town halls are necessary.

WHITFIELD: OK. And we're listening and soundbite fashion. We hear about, hear from people there who are upset about federal workers being laid off, losing their jobs. Why are they losing their jobs? You heard the veterans there who said you don't care about me.

[14:10:09]

So what sunk in with you? What has influenced you based on what you heard that might influence your decision-making moving forward?

EDWARDS: I believe that we all need to go back and make sure that we have our facts right. I need to ask of the Trump White House that they provide the facts of the layoffs, for example, that they're making. And I believe that the American people, including those right there in that room, need to not necessarily believe the political talking points that they're seeing on Facebook, but actually get down to the facts.

WHITFIELD: So how will you get down to the facts? What do you mean when you say you're going to, you know, go to the White House and try and get the facts? What's the information you feel that you are right now deprived of as a member of Congress? And contrast that with the information you're hearing from people in the town hall, how do you feel people are misinformed? What are the facts that you want them to know?

EDWARDS: Well, first of all, I witnessed on the House floor through the debate of the budget resolution and the continuing resolution directly from House representatives that were that were just arguing about facts that were not in the bill. It was just political, trite. And those things are getting spouted out on social media. The media is guilty at not verifying those facts and republishing them. They're real easy for people to believe. And I think that we need to just drop back and make sure that were talking from the perspective of fact.

WHITFIELD: OK, so when you're speaking facts, you're speaking in real generalities there. And really, it appears as though in the town hall, people were not wanting or placing demands about what was happening on the House floor, discussions about the spending bill. They're talking about things that have already transpired, things that have happened.

We heard people there asking about why are so many federal workers losing their jobs. You heard from those vets who are saying you don't care about me. They're worried about their benefits, or them losing grip of the benefits that they have been promised. So what is it you're able to convey to them to help answer the questions about why are so many federal workers losing the jobs? You said you want to go to the White House and get more detail about the plan. What have you since learned that you can convey right now?

EDWARDS: I think first I need to convey to you that the media is just as irresponsible in spouting out some of the things that are not true, just as you did.

WHITFIELD: Give me an example.

EDWARDS: There was an allegation that 80,000 people had been laid off, that that was included in the budget that I helped pass. Nothing like that happened. There was an allegation that Medicare and Social Security were being cut, and nothing of the sort has happened. I believe that we all need to make sure that we're speaking from the standpoint of what actually has happened and what's taking place, as opposed to listening to this political tripe. I believe that it's important willing.

WHITFIELD: People want to hear more from what -- your constituents want to hear more from you now. We do know that upwards of 100,000 federal workers have lost their jobs in just over 30 days. So when you heard from the woman there who said, why are federal workers losing their jobs, what is your answer to her?

EDWARDS: My answer to her is that if she had a grandchild born tomorrow, that grandchild automatically owes the federal government $106,000 to help cover the federal debt that we've spiraled ourselves into, and that it is unsustainable. Something has to happen to change the fiscal condition of this country. Donald Trump campaigned on that. He told us what he intended to do. He's delivering on that promise, just like he's delivering on the promise to close the border. And it should be no surprise that President Trump and the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are working to deliver to the American people the demands that they put on us when they put Donald Trump in the White House.

WHITFIELD: What are you tasking yourself with so that perhaps your constituents can feel that they are getting more transparency from you, from your fellow lawmakers as to what they can expect in the road ahead?

[14:15:09]

EDWARDS: As we hear these reports, whether they seem to be legitimate or not, me and my team are trying to go to the source and find out exactly what have been the cuts, how might they affect this district? And then I'll make the decision whether or not I feel they're in the best interest of this district or not, just like we did with the Social Security office that was proposed. WHITFIELD: I wonder, how long are you giving yourself to get some of

this information? Because it sounds like a lot of your constituents are expecting that you have some of the answers or you should have the answers now. Why do you not know more about their concerns, and why can you not address them now?

EDWARDS: Yes, well, I feel like I am addressing them now. It's not an accurate allegation to say that I'm not. Sometimes getting information is takes a little while. In some cases, the information that we need is just not there, which is one of the things that is important about us having an organization like Elon Musk and DOGE.

WHITFIELD: Will you host more town halls? And the next time that you have a town hall, do you feel like you'll be equipped with more information, more facts, as you put it?

EDWARDS: Well, I certainly daily am looking to get the facts as opposed to depending on the political rhetoric and those things that I see that are falsely reported by the media. I will most certainly hold more town halls. I held eight town halls in my first congressional term, and I hope to maintain a pace similar to that with this congressional term.

I think it's important that we get together as a community and talk about the issues that are important to us as a society to make sure that our future generations can enjoy the American dream.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Chuck Edwards, we're glad you could be with us, and hopefully well have you back, perhaps just ahead of or just following the next town hall that you have.

EDWARDS: Thank you. I look forward to it.

WHITFIELD: All right, President Trump signs an executive order to reduce the staff and function of seven more government entities, agencies that help the homeless, libraries, museums. That's next.

And an account of chaos inside the IRS courtesy of DOGE. And all right in the middle of tax season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:21]

WHITFIELD: President Trump on Friday signed a new executive order targeting seven federal agencies and entities that support labor negotiations, libraries, homelessness, and more. It's the latest effort by the administration to cut staffing and limit functions across the federal government. The head of each agency is now required to submit a report confirming their full compliance within seven days.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach near the president's Mar-a- Lago home. Kevin, tell us about these agencies, how they're being impacted.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, this was a late-night order, really a continuation of the president's effort to shrink the size and scope of the federal government. And what he's telling them in this order is that they are now required to shrink the size of their staffing and the size of their function, as applicable, by the law.

And I think the most notable of these agencies is the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Thats the parent agency of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, all of these agencies whose mission had been to provide independent news in a lot of instances to counter authoritarian propaganda. They broadcast in dozens of languages. But the president had accused them of bias. And as of this morning, a number of their employees are receiving notices that they are now on administrative leave.

The other agencies that were affected are a little more obscure, but certainly their missions are very important, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center. That had been a nonpartisan think tank. The other included the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which had been obviously meant to prevent and reduce the scale of homelessness in the United States. You also see on this list the minority business development agency, which had aimed to bolster minority businesses. So all of these agencies now in the presidents sights.

I think this, like so many of the president's actions, is likely to be challenged in court. Many of these entities had been commissioned by Congress, certainly in the case of Voice of America. That had been something that Congress had put into effect, and just as recently as 2020, had to try to protect it from intervention by the executive branch.

And so, like so many of the president's orders, this really does test the bounds of his executive authority. But certainly, you see the president very intent on continuing this mission to try and reduce the size of the federal government, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's very significant. All right, Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.

[14:25:00]

So as the White House continues to reduce the size of federal government, this week DOGE proposed cutting the IRS workforce by nearly 20 percent in the next two months. The agency has fired thousands of workers and auditors in the middle of tax season already. And now sources inside the IRS tell CNN it appears DOGE's priority is accessing its vast data systems.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is in Washington, D.C. Julia, the effort to remake the IRS seems to be well underway, isn't it?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, new CNN reporting is really giving us an idea of what these IRS workers are dealing with as they prepare to see more cuts. In interviews with CNN, multiple current and former IRS workers describe the atmosphere right now as one of intimidation. In fact, one worker who spoke anonymously with our team described the recent DOGE actions, and they said, quote, "They just randomly dropped by peoples offices demanding access to systems. They're bullying us. And there's no discipline in what they're doing, which really worries me."

Another IRS worker who works outside of Washington and is a local union leader said that they are really concerned about morale. In fact, they've seen people crying in the office and managers going around and apologizing for firings that they really had no say in.

And now, over the last month, since DOGE has set up shop in the IRS, we've already seen thousands of workers fired, and they've set out to shutter over 100 taxpayer assistance offices across the country. And then preparing for those widespread layoffs, expecting nearly 20 percent of the overall workforce to be let go by May 15th. So just two months away now.

In response to some of the CNN reporting that I detailed, we did get a response from White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and she said, quote, "This story is based on anonymous sources, and the fraudsters always scream the loudest. The vast majority of Americans support President Trump rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse."

Sources say that these DOGE actions could undermine the long-term operations of the IRS. And of course, this is all happening at the height of tax season.

And Fred, I did want to point out some recent surveys about these overall DOGE cuts that Kevin really outlined really well before me. People are concerned about, 62 percent of those people surveyed said that they are worried that the cuts go too far, and they're concerned that important federal programs will get cut.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook, thanks so much.

Breaking news, a rapidly intensifying tornado is on the ground right now in southern Mississippi. A live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:11]

WHITFIELD: All right, we have this breaking news. The National Weather Service is tracking an intense and potentially violent tornado that just touched down on the ground in southern Mississippi. Officials say the storm is moving into a high-risk area. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back with us on more of this. Pretty frightening.

CHINCHAR: Yes, we were on just a few moments ago talking about the tornado emergency that was issued. That is the highest level of tornado warning that you can possibly get. And officials were saying that the winds could be up around 175 miles per hour, which would put it around an EF-4 strength. This is the cell, this one right here, this is the one we were talking about. And because it originated back down here, this means it was potentially on the ground for at least 50 miles before even getting the tag of potentially a tornado emergency. But you also have several other tornado warnings in and around this

area. So I want to emphasize that's not the only one were talking about. Anywhere you see these pinkish, purple colored boxes, that is a tornado warning. The orange boxes, those are severe thunderstorm warnings. And even those could still produce 60, 70 mile-per-hour winds. That's enough to knock down a tree or some power lines.

This whole line is continuing to slide east. Thats why you have the tornado watches, in effect, not just for Mississippi, but also into Alabama and Tennessee, because that's where all of these storms, Fred, are going to continue to head as we go through the next 12 to 24 hours.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, at quite the clip, it seems, as well. All right, Allison, thank you.

All right, the Storm Prediction Center just labeled a tornado watch in Alabama as a particularly dangerous situation, PDS, indicating the possibility of exceptionally strong storms. More than 3 million people are now under tornado watches across that state.

Joining us right now is the director of the Emergency Management Agency of Alabama, Jeff Smitherman. Jeff, great to see you. So what do you tell people about how they prepare for this?

JEFF SMITHERMAN, DIRECTOR, ALABAMA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: First, thank you, Fredricka, for having me on. And I want to say, our prayers go out to Missouri, Texas, Arkansas, and now, as we just heard, Mississippi, as they've taken the brunt of the storm so far.

So what we start out doing is we ask our neighbors to check on neighbors, both before the storm and after the storm to see, make sure they help them prepare, know what their plan is. They can go check on each other, if a storm hits their residence, they're prepared to take care of each other, because quite often it's the neighbors that are first to arrive on scene.

And we ask them to have redundant systems for notifications, because when the when the storms come through and the power knocks out your first one, you need to have that second system to get that notification, because there's additional storms coming in behind it. So that's what we ask them to do on a personal level and to keep track and to take the actions to get their notifications.

[14:35:04]

WHITFIELD: That you are getting this labeling right now, this particularly dangerous situation, that PDS, I mean, that helps underscore the severity, the potential severity of this storm. It gives you a heads up, so to speak, to convey to people in your region to, to be careful. Is this unusual, though, or is this typical that you would hear about this distinction ahead of a storm's arrival like this?

SMITHERMAN: It is rarely used by the Storm Prediction Center. And this is a rather historical event for those states being impacted. And what the National Weather Service and the Storm Prediction Center has done with their notifications and placing some of these, some of our locations, some of our states under a high level threat this far out, so it's it does make that historic. And the use of the particular dangerous situation even more so, that's very -- what that really means to us, you know, pay close attention to this. It means these are high intensity, long track tornadoes. And those are the ones that tend to cause the most deaths and destruction. So we're asking to really pay attention to that. And I appreciate you all accentuating how dangerous that is so that those watching can pay attention and take action as needed.

WHITFIELD: Are there particular vulnerabilities because of the structures or because of a remoteness, anything like that that you are concerned about? When you look at the path of this system?

SMITHERMAN: So we -- this system is really going to cover the entire state of Alabama. All 67 of our counties are under threat from this system. While the Storm Prediction Center and the National Weather Service does great with their modeling and shows us where the areas are most vulnerable, it really, we do not know where these -- where the actual tornadoes are going to happen ahead of time.

But here's what we have. Our residents are resilient. Our first responders are top notch. Our local emergency management programs are professional, and we've got a very strong volunteer organizations in the state. We've got a great staff here at the stadium and great state partners. And when that entire organization works together and communicates and collaborates and prepares, as we have, we feel comfortable that we're going to be there to help the residents when, when, if they need over the next 24 hours.

WHITFIELD: Well, Jeff Smitherman, I thank you so much for your time. All the best to you and all of your teams as you endure, really, the uncertainty that comes with situations like this. Thank you so much.

SMITHERMAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:37]

WHITFIELD: It's been quite the rollercoaster week for markets around the world as investors seek answers about President Trump's trade policies. On Friday, stock markets slightly rebounded following a week that saw the S&P enter correction territory. Investors have been wringing their hands as Trump ups the ante on his tariff threats. On Wednesday, he announced new 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. The move quickly triggered retaliatory measures from Canada and the European Union.

Trump then threatened a 200 percent tariff on alcoholic beverages from Europe. All this as we're just weeks away from reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners, taking effect on April 2nd.

Joining us right now, David Bieri. He is an associate professor of economics and public policy at Virginia Tech. David, great to see you.

DAVID BIERI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, VIRGINIA TECH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So since Trump took office in January, markets have dipped sharply, maybe largely because of this tariff talk. Why does this administration find it advantageous to threaten even more?

BIERI: Because in some ways, they're doing what they said they were going to do. The only people who weren't necessarily listening were market participants with their unusually, maybe too rosy outlook in some ways. Nobody thought that this was going to be pretty, except perhaps for ebullient traders in financial markets. And so this is this is exactly what we're seeing.

Perhaps sharing as a former financial market participant and now turned academic, I should say I should be maybe a little more compassionate in the sense that what we're seeing right now is indeed a little bit more chaotic than perhaps some of us had anticipated.

WHITFIELD: I mean, tariffs on Canada and Mexico, they go into effect on April 2nd. It means products such as lumber, food, some food products, oil, some medical equipment, will all cost more. So what do you see the impact to be on Americans' bottom line, and when?

BIERI: Well, in some ways as soon as they go up. Tariffs are a form of a tax, and those taxes in the past, mostly in the first round of Trump tariffs, they were all borne by consumers.

[14:45:05]

So in that sense, the consumers of these products. affected products, it's not necessarily good news at all. We've already been squeezed by inflationary pressures since the pandemic. And so that type of pressure is going on more, which causes additional worries for what the Fed might be having to do in terms of maybe not taking its foot off the brake as soon as we had hoped in bringing interest rates down some more.

There is, of course, the geopolitical element to this. We know, although perhaps no longer in our living memories, that trade wars are never nice. And we have not seen the type of trade war, perhaps since after World War II. We've seen the highest average tariff rates, six percent, six to eight percent now, the highest since 1946, since the famous general agreement on tariffs and trade.

In that sense, what the long game is, nobody knows, because as you pointed out, there is a lot of retaliation happening. But again, we knew this going in. We just didn't anticipate perhaps quite how messy that could be. And in a period where, or in an age where people process information so rapidly that it's too much to process at all, what does that mean in the short run? We don't know.

If I may add one quick element, the science behind this, my science, economics, is quite clear on this. We knew, and everybody agrees on that in the guild, as it were, is that this is going to hurt. How much it will hurt in the two to three year horizon, some people say 0.5 percent of GDP, it could be as much as two percent of GDP. It will hurt.

The distributional burden is going to be very interesting and it will depend on the ultimate configuration. Is this going to hurt consumers more or producers? In some ways, there is a little currently, a little disconnect, although it's too early to necessarily make too much of it, in that the types of tariffs that are currently being imposed favor capital intensive industries. And so they're bad news for workers because in some ways, the Trump administration sold these tariffs as something that might help American workers.

In the very long run, if jobs are reshored and this, that and the other, that might be true. But our theory tells us, if capital intensive industries like steel, auto, copper, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals are the key beneficiaries of it, it will actually aggravate income inequalities in terms of the owners of the factors of production, of capital, i.e. people who make most of their money from being invested in these industries, versus people who draw wages. And so in that sense, it's going to be very interesting whether the Trump administration actually is tilting it's policies towards more labor protective tariffs. Not the case at the moment.

WHITFIELD: All very sobering. All right, David Bieri, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:58]

WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news just into CNN. The U.S. has begun to carry out decisive military action against Houthi targets in Yemen. CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach near the president's Mar-a-Lago home. Kevin, what are you learning?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Fred, this appears to be the most significant military action since President Trump returned to office. He says on Truth Social that he has ordered the U.S. military to launch decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Remember, this is the Iran backed group that had been targeting merchant vessels and warships in the Red Sea, causing disruptions to international shipping lanes. The president says that the Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated, and he says the U.S. will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. He says the targets include bases, leaders, and military defenses. And he says this is to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore navigational freedom.

I think, Fredricka, this could also be interpreted as a message to Iran. As the president works to open negotiations with Iran to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, he has also not ruled out the prospect of military action against Iran. I think this is an opening salvo as the president works to bring that country to the negotiating table. WHITFIELD: All right, Kevin Liptak, keep us posted as you learn more.

All right, Cuba is suffering a nationwide blackout after the power grid collapsed on Friday. More than 10 million people are now in the dark. CNN's Patrick Oppmann is joining us now from Havana. Patrick, what more can you tell us?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the only reason we're able to speak to you, and you can probably hear it behind me, is because we have a generator that is running at the moment. Most of Cuba is not so lucky. Millions of people have been without power since last night. And certainly power outages are nothing new on this island, but for the entire island to lose power is very concerning, because there's been no hurricane, no natural disaster.

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It is simply a question of Cuba's old, outdated, and collapsing power system giving way once again. Officials say they are working around the clock to bring it back online. The U.S. sanctions have hurt this power system over the years, but of course, there's been so little investment in Cuba's electrical grid that this is becoming more and more frequent. And the concern is as we get into more and more warmer weather, as we get into the summer, that is when demand goes up. It's not that hot here just yet, but as we get into the hotter months here, Fred, of course people will want to turn on a fan, turn on their A.C., and that is when we are likely to see more and more of these instances where an entire island, an entire country, loses power all at once.

WHITFIELD: That is going to be pretty miserable when and if that happens. Hopefully it won't. But I got you. All right, Patrick Oppmann, thank you so much.

All right, this breaking news. Extreme and potentially deadly weather now hitting parts of the southeast right now, bringing severe thunderstorms and an outbreak of tornadoes. We're tracking all of it right after this.

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